Tiamat's Wrath

Wow...this book was incredible. After how we left things at the end of Persepolis Rising, I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it.

I'm writing this 2.5 years after I finished Tiamat's Wrath for the first time, and a week after I finished it for the ... ~10th time. So saying I like this book and this series is a bit of an understatement.

If you're reading this review, chances are you liked the previous Expanse books (plus we're ages past its release date) so I'm not going to worry about spoilers after this point. You've been warned.

So the opening is a bit of a heartbreak. Take a cry break if you need to, but power on because this book is real good.

While Holden has never been my favorite (I've always liked him, but he gets edged out by a decent margin), he really grew on me here. He's learned a lot and I love what he does with his shit situation after getting captured on Medina in Persepolis Riding. The way he interacts with everyone, the dancing bear, the way he just has to push a button if he sees it.

Naomi continues to level up her awesomeness with each book. She's boss level now and I love it.

Alex just keeps doing his thing and continues to be the heart and soul of the Roci crew.

Bobbie Draper is the most badass woman to ever exist, and everything about her character is perfection.

Amos. The last man standing. His whole arc in this book is great and rivals his post-apocalyptic trek with Peaches.

Elvi makes a fun re-appearance and I'm so glad. I liked her in Cibola Burn (yes, even her crush on Holden, I thought it was realistic!) and I like her here. She's another awesome woman who gets shit done in her way.

Teresa is a nice new addition and I hope she sticks around for the last book. But if you didn't like Elvi in Cibola Burn, you'll probably need to dust off your Liz Lemon eyeroll for some of her chapters. She's a bit cringe at times, given she's the teenage daughter of a galactic dictator, but her story is important, interesting, and pretty funny.

While there's some heartbreak in this book, the ending is happy-ish (I mean, we are still in the Expanse series, it's not a Disney movie) and will leave you eagerly anticipating Leviathan Falls.